The Home Machinist!

Nice!

I noticed a contact for Accucraft in the goose post in the for sale section.

Resin printers give a lot smoother finish, but a side frame is way too big for most of the printers. Filament printers that allow items that size are easier to come by.

For a speeder you could also use a flange on the axle and bolt the wheel to it like the prototype. the spacers could be used or not used, depending on the gauge for the day. A boss on the flange would locate the wheels. A nut driver on a drill would make quick work of removing and installing and rep...

It looks like you could make the one above slightly shorter by cutting the bottom off of the legs and replacing them with L brackets.

I'd make a big boring bar out of some hardened drill rod to avoid the flex from the long stick out. My understanding is that there isn't a big difference in rigidity for different types of steel. Solid carbide bars are more rigid, as are steel bars that are a larger diameter. Another option is to m...

Some locomotives have been built with cast bronze side rods and bushings wouldn't be needed until the first shopping. With steel, fit bushings. Do a search for rod bushings, I believe some have had success with some of the slippery plastics. Bronze is a good choice, but people have had poor success ...

Starting a thread to avoid hijacking the post on the marketplace. It's on the Bitter Creek Western web page - https://www.jf2.com/bcwrr/Dockstader-Valve-Gear.html Long, long ago when Charlie still had slow dial up Internet and was sending copies on disk for free to anyone who asked for a copy I put ...

Send me your email address and I'll send you the stl file that I used.

Attached.

Got it. Haven't had time to open it. Thanks!

Given the difficulty and cost of acquiring a suitable piece of bronze, casting has a lot to say for it. My frugality always always give me the twitches when I have to leave 75% of the material in the chip pan.